The owners of the Ice House are shuttering their Main Street Cafe to focus on their events-related business, apartment development and a potential cigar and whiskey bar.

The Ice House’s events-related business has been growing and “has more potential for profitability” than the cafe, so they decided to close it and incorporate a dining spot into the event space as part of the Ice House, said Erica Schnell, director of business development for the Ice House and its events affiliate, Crushed Ice Events Inc.

The Ice House, at 217 E. Main St., is in the former seven-story Merchants Ice & Cold Storage business near Brook Street. The site is owned by contractors Mike Schnell and Dave Steinbrecher, who plan to develop more than 30 apartments there.

Nearly all the upper levels of the building slated for dwellings was used to store ice from 1908 through the mid-1980s. The units facing north will have balconies, and units on the upper three floors fronting on Washington Street will have views of the river.

Steinbrecher and another investor doing business as Ice House Lofts LLC bought the three-building complex along Main Street for $2 million from businessman Henry Connolly in 2007.

In addition to the cafe, which the owners of the building operated, the building has several small commercial tenants.

The owners announced recently that a combination cigar and whiskey bar would open and feature “hundreds of top-shelf and craft liquors, including single malt scotch and American artisanal whiskeys,” the business’ general manager, Len Stevens said in a news release.

But Erica Schnell said Wednesday that “we are still exploring options for the cigar and whiskey bar and hope to make a decision in the near future.”

She said the Ice House owners plan to make the cafe space available for rehearsal dinners and other events for private and corporate clients.

The Ice House and Crushed Ice Events opened in 2010. Crushed Ice Events offers party-planning services and the event space can hold up to 1,500 people.

Reporter Sheldon S. Shafer can be reached at (502) 582-7089. Follow him on Twitter at @sheldonshafer.